ROAD RACE
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 17 / OCTOBER 30, 2016
SEPANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT / SEPANG, SELANGOR, MALAYSIA
P64
By the end of lap one,
Dovizioso was third ahead of
Marquez, who had made the
unusual choice of a carbon front
brake in spite of the wet, some-
thing he had found effective in
practice on the high-grip wet
surface. Fast starter Aleix Espar-
garo (Ecstar Suzuki) was fourth;
while behind him Crutchlow
(LCR Honda) was closing on
Lorenzo.
The action up front was furi-
ous. Rossi had several goes at
getting ahead of Iannone, who
was returning after missing four
races with a back injury. Every
time, Iannone would get directly
back ahead.
more. But I think we can make
it better. I believe in Ducati and
they believe in me."
There was certainly "a lot of
water." So much that the start
had to be delayed by 20 minutes
to let the puddles dissipate. But
Sepang's new surface had al-
ready proved to have outstanding
wet grip, and the early laps were
anything but a typical tiptoe affair.
Lorenzo led into the first
corner, Marc Marquez (Repsol
Honda) got ahead briefly, but it
was Rossi leading lap one, with
second Ducati rider Iannone
breathing down his neck, and
ahead of him before lap two
was done.
earlier wet performances.
Ducati rider "Dovi" disclaimed
a tactical ride. "From the out-
side, it looks like I was control-
ling the race," he confirmed.
"But it was not like this in reality.
The first part of the race was
very fast, because there was a
lot of water. But I didn't make a
mistake and I didn't give up. That
is what gave me the possibility to
win at the end."
He added, "My bike was the
same speed from the beginning
to the end," and praised Ducati's
continuing improvements. "Four
years ago we were very bad.
Now we are competitive—not
completely. We still need some
Dovizioso ran a solid race from the
get-go but later admitted that it
wasn't as "controlled" as it looked.
